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Show Russ Jones brings glory, fame to Layton SECTION DAVIS REFLEX JOURNAL MAY 22, 1985 I - : Jones And Troops Wait At Finish Line As Lancers Get Their Revenge By KEITH DUNCAN Journal Sports ran around the track werent allowing for any surprises. It was just a great showing by the hurdle and sprint people as Terry Kealamakia won both the high and low hurdles, took second in the 200 meters and anchored the two-da- y stint where miniwere as common as in a explosions war-tor- n battlefield, Layton High School brought fame and glory to itself by upsetting perrinial Region One power Clearfield High in the 1985 Region One Track and Field Championships held Thursday and Friday at Weber State College. In a two-da- y FOR THE coach, Russ Jones; for the school, Layton High; for the kids, everyone included and for just about everyone else, this sensational upset could go down as one of the most inspirational and enthusiastic athletic triumphs the school has ever known. Certainly it ranks with the best of them. Layton held a slim four-poiadvantage heading into the last and final event, the mile relay. There, at the finish line, was Jones and sixty of his kids decked in two-ton- e nt blue track gear to cheer Terry Kealamakia past Clearfields Todd Davis and an ultimate clinching of the 85 championship. Layton had 5 to outdistanced Clearfield 131-12- win it all. WHEN TERRY flashed by the acutrack recorder he was immediately smothered by an army of Layton teammates and coaches. The cheers were greater for this victory than all cheers combined for the wins the Weber and Ogden girls netted and even that of the Ben Lomond boys. And why not? Layton had just brought an end to five straight years of Falcon domination of Region One mens track. It became Laytons first region championship in any boys sport in over two years and also became only the second such track title in the schools history. JONES, IN his sixth year at Layton, had his team peaking with enthusiasm and spunk through evevent. ery moment of the That was a big part of Laytons success the first day when they nickel and dimed Clearfield to death, piling up an impressive 38 points. "When Darrell Martin beat out Darrell Hicks on his last jump of the trials in the long jump on Thursday, I thought the entire momentum of the meet shifted our way. It quieted Clearfield down and our kids came out of their shell, said Jones. two-da- y AND THAT was just the start of it. Laytons support of one another was brilliant, beginning in the finals of the long jump, through the discus and of course through the balance of Friday. One Layton teammate even brought a tape of the official Olympic music and played it while Laytons relay team was sprinting to victory. Martins explosion in the long jump was just one of many outbursts that netted the win. His jump of 22 VA set a new region record, breaking the mark set by Tom Kidd of Layton just last year. 400-met- er OTHER explosive happenings occurred with Ron Barker taking third place in the discus and Robert Porter fourth. Barkers furtherest throw in any official event prior to Thursday, was only 132 feet. But he let go a toss of 147 feet which shocked everyone, including himself. Another one was Steve Fords the shot put, good enough for fifth place. That was a personal best for him. 46 2'A throw in GOING even further, how bout Joe MidkifTs winning the javelin event and even a couple of highly important fifth place finishes by both Craig Stevens and the high jump ) and Clint Brower in the pole vault (12-6(6-1- ). The Clearfield coaches were generally shocked at Laytons cess in the field events. suc- WHILE THE field event people were surprising, the people who winning mile relay team. Kealamakia set new region marks in both hurdle races, a 14.32 in the highs and a 39.03 in the lows. LAYTONS other first place ish was in the fin- relay where Joe Christensen, William Reid, Darrell Gray and Gary Willhide led the charge. Reid was behind Clearfields Greg Boykin at the start of the final 100 yards but outpaced him down the stretch for the win. 440-yar- d They re the champs! Layton High upset a string of fine straight Region One titles put together by Clearfield as they clipped the Falcons last Friday at Weber State. 131-12- 5 Besides Kealamakia, other members of the winning mile relay included Martin, John Wagstaff and Dennis Sanner. OF COURSE the depth in the sprints and hurdles in what really did Clearfield in and helped Layton. In fact Clearfield was leading the meet by seven points heading into the 200 meters (second to last event) but saw Reid and Gray finish fifth and sixth respectively there, all of which killed their chances of winning their sixth straight title. Other top six finishers included Martin (3rd in the 110 highs); Martin (3rd in the 300 lows); Rich Lovelace (5th in the 300 lows); Reid (3rd in the 100 meters); Willhide (4th in the 100 meters); Gray (5th in the 100 meters); Wagstaff (5th in the 400 meters); Scott Nance (5th in the 800 meters); and the medley relays third place finish. IT WAS only in the 1600 and 3200 meters that Layton failed to place anyone. This isnt something that just started a few months ago, said Jones, This started last year when Clearfield beat us by eight points for the title. We had our kids convinced they should have won it last year and that we had a score to settle with them. BUT SOMETHING that weighs heavy with me personally, is the fact John Flint is my idol. Hes my favorite coach in track and in my opinion is the best track coach in the state. There isnt any-othat could have walked into Clearfield and did the job hes done. And for us to beat him is perhaps the greatest accomplishment of my athletic career. n "Maybe one more thing that led to our success this year was the tremendous help we got from our assistant coaches. Brandon Flint, Monte Green and Bill Fulmer have been the best bunch of assistants Ive ever had since coming to Layton High. A lot ofcreditgoesto them for teaching skills and motivating. The public has to know from me that they were fantastic this year, no better around. BRANDON Flint, whos been around at Layton High in the past, noted, "It was one good man, Russ Jones, who worked until late hours of the night putting things together. Hes terrific, the kids love the guy. As far as the excitement that went on for two days, I havent seen that much enthusiasm at Layton in five years. It was great. Monte Green stated, It all centers around Russ who is unbelievably dedicated. He wasnt afraid to recruit kids out of the high school and begin to have these kids believe in themselves. This week they just happened to peak at the right time and they earned a championship theyll never forget. But it takes a great coach like Jones who can get that kind of ability out of the kids. BILL FULMER also stated, "Its been a building process from last year. I thought they key was the kids' total dedication that earned them this. By KEITH DUNCAN Journal Sports OGDEN - For the first time in six years, there wasnt a Clearfield team taking the winners stand after a Region One Track and Field -- Championship day. FUNNY THING, it really wasnt supposed to be, that way. The Falcons, winners of the Weber State Invitational afid Davis District meet, were expected to receive another super serious challenge from both Layton and Weber Highs but they were supposed to have just enough to put No. 6 on the shelf. But on Thursday tragedy struck as Gerrard Stracke, who has vastly improved with each week that passed, pulled a hamstring. There was no way he could come back and it even looked doubtful that hed be back for the state meet which will be held this Friday and Saturday at Weber State College. WE LOST some very valuable points that Stracke could have got us in the 100, 200, 400 and mile relay, said John Hint, It really hurt us to have him out of there. The kids went flat when they learned of the news and I really doubt they ever recovered. As it ended up, Layton piled up 131 points to Clearfields 125 points. Weber was third with 108. THE Clearfield kids watched Layton accept the 85 trophy, you e could almost sense a certain in them. It wasnt pointed at AS veng-anc- Layton, because the Lancers earned everything they got. But it pointed more at following week (this week) when theyd get a chance to win the state championship. This may have helped us," said Craig Carter as he walked toward the bus. We want to win Coach Flint a state championship before its too late and 1 believe were Clements, Williams Charm Region One OGDEN at its finest. -- - Its pure bred talent SEVEN NEW region records were set during the second day of the 1985 Region One Women's Track and Field Championships held last Thursday and Friday at going to get the job done next week. TODD FERGASON, winner of the pole vault, stated, Layton deserved the title but I really believe we can win the state title if well all get in and strive for it. Ferguson was one of only two Clearfieldites that helped win individual state titles. He won the pole vault with a leap of 13-- 0 and Todd Davis won the mile run with a time of 4:30.82. I KNEW we were in trouble of losing the title when I started my race, said Todd. I wasn't going to be denied in that race. It really feels nice to win the 1600 meters, especially in a year w here there are so many good runners. BUT THERE are some outstanding performances other than Davis and Fergusons. You could start with Carters effort in the shot put and discus where he took second place in both to Bonnevilles Chad Law. Law was just unbeatable as he shot put went 60-- 5 to break the region record set by Mark Carter in 1981. PEPO OLIVAS also put in quite show for Clearfield as he a tw finished second in the javelin, fourth in the long jump, fourth in the discus and an impressive third in the shot put. Pepo is only a junior. Todd Walker picked up a second place for the Falcons by finishing in the high jump. All three of Clearfields relay teams finished second and Davis had a second place in the 800 meters to go along with his mile victory. 6-- 3 OTHER outstanding performances were put in by Kent Bodily (4th in pole vault); Vaun Waite (4th in the shot); Don Gladfleter (2nd in the 400 meters); Leo Artega (6th in the 100 meters); and Larry Johnson (6th in the 10 high hurdles). 1 Weber State College. Thats quite a few new marks but its no wonder with the kind of purebred talent that exists on the various womens teams these days. Perhaps in no other year has there ever been such keen competition in most events and such performances. d-breaking WEBER High, possessing a powerful team, ran up 214 points to win the title over Bonneville and Clearfield. Clearfields Stephanie Clements won the 400 meters in record breaking time as the clock stopped at 57.60. That broke the mark set by Camille Davis of Weber back in 1982. CLEMENTS also finished second in the 100 and 200 meters, being beaten by her rival Andrea Ohlwiler Puts On Gutsy Show As Darts Finish 2nd BOUNTIFUL - It was clearly a Viewmont day last week at the Region Four Track and Field Championships as the Vikings won in both the boys and girls divisions. -- THE VIKING boys piled up 182 points to Davis 162 while the Vik7 ing gals posted a victory over the Lady Darts. The Lady Darts were unable to win their seventh consecutive region title as 139-12- Williams of Weber in both races. Other impressive performances turned in by Clearfield or Layton gals included Laytons Carol Days second place jump in the high jump; Clearfield's second place mile relay team; Layton's Karen Fraziers third place in the shot put; Diane Tubbs second place in the 400 meters, being from Clearfield; Tubbs fourth place in the 200 meters and another fourth in the 100 meters. LAYTONS Merritt Nielson's third in the 100 meter hurdles and her third in the 300 meter hurdles; Clearfields Diane Bates fourth in the 300 hurdles; Clearfield's Sandy Thurgoods sixth in the 800 meters; Laytdns Jodie Melillos fourth in the 3200 meters; Clearfield's Shawna Wilson's fifth in the shot put and Sue Thurgoods sixth in the shot. the Viking girls reigned. On the boys side, Davis came away with four region championships. They included Erik Thompsons winning toss in the discus (148-7Jeff Ohlwilers champion); ship throw in javelin (202-5Ohlwiler's title making in the long and a surprising jump of performance by Scott Moon in the high jump where he won that event with a leap of ); 21-6'- t; 6-- 5. THE SECOND place Davis finishers included that of Ohlwiler in the discus who threw it 139 feet. Others included Joe Hawkins fine performance in the 300 intermedi- ate hurdles and Kurt Black's second place in the 3200 meters. The third place finishes were posted by Ohlwiler in the 10 hurdles; Tim Hess. 800 meters; Haw1 kins, 1600 meters; Brian Jeffers in the shopt put; Dave Daniels, high jump and David Snowball in the pole vault. IN THE girls division, only Davis' Audrey Hiller won an individual title on the girls' side. She went to win the high jump competition. Second place winners at the meet included Val Thompson in the 100 meter hurdles; Teresa Cross in the 800 meters and finally Stephanie Hess in the shot put. 5-- 2 |